Utagawa Yoshitaki (1841–1899)

Condition Report

Impression & Colours

A fine, detailed impression with rich colours: the slate-blue night sky, the red-brown wood-grain printing of the bridge, the jade-green armour of Kumagai and the patterned red, pink and indigo costume of Atsumori. The armour skirts are printed with metallic pigment, which has oxidised to a dark green-gold, as is usual.

Paper

Two separate sheets on thick paper, with old album backing.

⚠ Please examine all photographs carefully — they form part of this condition report.

Kumagai and Atsumori — The Veteran and the Youth

Across two sheets, the two actors face each other on a red-lacquered bridge under a dark sky. On the right, Kumagai Naozane stands in green armour, one hand raised holding a closed fan, his face marked with red and blue make-up lines. On the left, the young Atsumori, long-haired and in a richly patterned robe over red armour, is half-kneeling against the railing, a closed fan in his hand, turning to meet him.

The story behind the scene is one of the best known of the Genpei War. At the battle of Ichinotani in 1184, the Minamoto warrior Kumagai Naozane fought and killed Taira no Atsumori, a young nobleman the same age as his own son. The encounter, told in the Heike monogatari, left Kumagai unable to return to battle; he renounced the world, became a monk and followed the teacher Hōnen. The episode was retold many times in Noh, jōruri and kabuki. This design records the Osaka production of Suma no Miyako Genpei Tsutsuji at the Kado Theatre in 1867.

An Osaka Theatre Print by Yoshitaki

Utagawa Yoshitaki (1841–1899), who also signed Ichiyōtei, worked in Osaka, where actor prints were made for the local theatres and their audiences. Osaka prints of this period are mostly in the small chūban format, and the best of them were printed with considerable care — heavy paper, dense colour and metallic pigments.

Here the carving is especially fine in the textiles: the wood-grain pattern across the bridge, the clouds and roundels on Kumagai's sleeves, the leaves and butterflies scattered over Atsumori's robe, and the lacing of both suits of armour. Onoe Tamizō II and Ichikawa Udanji I were both leading actors of the Osaka stage.

Collector's Note

A complete diptych — both sheets present — from the Osaka stage of 1867, documented by the impression in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. The two sheets are printed with metallic pigment and fine textile detail, and remain together as a set. Pencil notes by an earlier collector on the reverse already identify the artist and both actors correctly.